Are these the hundred greats of the century?

Jeff Powell

Last updated at 00:00 05 August 1998

THEY'RE all here the top 100 legends of a 100 years of the English Football League since its creation. Or are they? Every fan in the land will have an opinion on who is in, and just as importantly, who is out of the hall of fame as selected by a panel of distinguished football writers.

There is no room for World Cup winner Jack Charlton, one of Sir Alf Ramsey's glory boys of '66, or for the stylish Trevor Brooking of West Ham and England, or England's current goalkeeper David Seaman.

Possible legends of the future such as Michael Owen were considered too young to warrant a place. But there was room for the flawed genius of Paul Gascoigne, along with five current Premiership stars, Adams, Shearer, Giggs, Schmeichel and Bergkamp. Here the Mail's chief sports feature writer JEFF POWELL considers the problems in pleasing everyone when selecting the definitive hall of fame.

LEG - a person whose fame or notoriety makes him a source of exaggerated or romanticised tales or exploits.

As luck would have it, those of us given the onerous responsibility of selecting 100 legends to commemorate a round-ball century of Football League seasons neglected to consult our dictionaries.

We searched our hearts and souls instead. And dredged our memories.

Back in the bromide days of Dubbin on the boots and Vaseline in the hair, my grandfather took me to Highbury, sat me on his shoulders and instructed me to watch that northern gentleman Mr Finney for the entire match.

Here was an education in the game and an introduction to the magic, all rolled into 90 minutes. From that first sighting of the Preston Plumber, I knew Tom Finney was a legend. Just knew it.

In one impressionable lad's mind, he became the greatest of the greats.

That's how it is with legends.

When I met him years later I was like a tongue-tied schoolboy once again ...

until Mr Finney put me at ease. Here was an immortal who descended from the Pantheon the way he used to go to work. By bus.

So when a privileged few of us were asked to nominate the most legendary representatives of a hundred winters of the national game, there are no prizes for guessing the first name on my list.

That was the easy part.

As heated debates in pubs, clubs, wine bars and executive boxes will testify in the weeks to come, the problem was who to leave out. Part of that dictionary definition might have come in useful, after all.

While there is nothing exaggerated about the legend of Finney, Dean, Matthews. Lofthouse, Haynes, Edwards, Moore, Charlton, Charles, Best, Law, Dalglish or any of the names who came stepping across the generations to be scrolled in honour yesterday, there is romance by the old trainer's bucketful.

Football wouldn't be the People's Game without it. Nor without the arguments. For every fan who would prefer Ian St John to Malcolm Macdonald -'Move St John to inside forward' was the answer once scrawled on a Merseyside church wall under a poster asking 'What would you do if Jesus Christ came to Liverpool?' - there is another who would have Slim Jim Baxter in place of Sir Alf Ramsey or Ian Wright ahead of Dennis Bergkamp. Yet Macdonald's goals made him an idol from

Craven Cottage to St James's Park and back to Highbury, Ramsey was a masterful back long before he steered England to World Cup triumph and Bergkamp endorsed his claim with the finest goal of France '98.

Believe me, every credential - right back to Billy Bassett, West Bromwich Albion, circa 1888-1900 - stands up to scrutiny. Simply, even in a 100-man team, there wasn't room for all of them.

Only seven of Sir Alf's glory boys of '66 make the list, which might give our panel of judges the worrying prospect of entry in Big Jack Charlton's infamous Little Black Book.

Every football lover has his own hero.

To those who drooled over the chirping Budgie of Crystal Palace and West Ham as he made the ball sing, chubby Johnny Byrne was a legend in his own lunchtime. Frank Worthington, with his Pres-ley impersonations and 'Elvis' autograph, was a legend in another celebrity's lifetime. Chelsea's Tommy 'The Sponge' Baldwin was a legend in drinking-up time.

AS FOR the notoriety defined by the arbiters of Collins English, step forward Paul Gascoigne. He is a legend all right - the vote, as I remember, was unanimous - albeit warts and all.

The crucial difference for the likes of Gazza is that the idols of the past were not subject to such public scrutiny. The golden oldies, although they earned a pittance and lived simpler lives, remained figures of distant adoration.

Perhaps that is one reason why Gazza is one of no more than half-a-dozen featured from England's uppermost football league of today.

One problem for the Premiership which plans to inaugurate its own Hall of Fame - is that as yet it is more media hype than real substance. Another is that it is a league in its infancy E not unlike Michael Owen, whose own legend is still very early in the making.

Nor would the cherubic saviour of England's future - any more than the immortals of the past - lay claim to the alternative definition of a legend: A story of the life of a Saint.

When it comes to declaring which of our sporting heroes truly stand the test of time, nostalgia is even better than it used to be.